Haiti Day 3 & 4

Yesterday was intensely hot. It seemed like such a long day. We only went to three orphanages instead of our scheduled five. It was the first time that we drove through some of the hardest hit areas. The destruction is unbelievable. Words cannot describe what we drove through and what we saw. I can’t wait to get pictures posted.

One orphanage we went to had a three story building that collapsed. The miraculous part is that the kids where in the building when it came down and not one of them was seriously injured. Three hours later, we were told, "the earth brought forth water.” They had started to set up in an outside concrete courtyard area when suddenly the well started to push water out. In a matter of minutes they were flooded and had to move everything to the mountains. They eventually moved back, but after the overnight earthquakes of this past week they decided to move to the mountains again. They have little to no water proof shelter when the rains come. My heart is broken at the thought of these beautiful kids living and sleeping in the rain. It will be hard, even with tents, but it big step that needs to take place. If you had seen these kids and heard their story I promise you that you would have done everything in your power to help them. We spent an hour there delivering food and teaching the kids how to play “Duck, Duck,Goose”. This is only one of the many stories that we have been a part of this week.

Today was the hardest day yet. Emotionally it hurt. We went to an orphanage that was is good condition and seemed to have things under hand. The hardest thing for them is that every building in their place has to be torn down and rebuilt. They all sustained some kind of damage in the quake. Even though they were in better shape than most, they still need a lot of help. They feed forty neighborhood kids along with the fifty they have in the orphanage. These kids are so amazing. They run around laughing and smiling. They love to be hugged and held. The hardest part was when we had to leave.

The next place we went to was the hardest for most of us. We had to drive through a river to get to the orphanage. When I say river I really mean a swift moving stream that was about ten feet wide. No bridge, just water running over the road. Our tap-tap driver was a bit apprehensive about driving through it, but in the end, he gave in and drove through. They had beds, cots, and bunk beds sitting outside with no shelter at all. There was an elderly woman who recently had a stroke and had not yet received any medical attention. As the medical personal took care of her and a few of the children we hung out with the older boys and kicked a flat basketball around like a soccer ball. The orphanage backs up to an ice factory with a river running between the two properties. The river looks like a trash dump with a stream of water running down the middle of it. They just seem to through all of their  trash over the fence and into the river. It's hard to describe how it makes me feel to see that people live like this. When we left it was clear to me that we had to work harder on getting these tents. We are also looking for a wheel chair for the woman who had a stroke so she can at least get around better than before. It is a difficult situation, but it will get better.

Tomorrow will prove to be a productive day. We are looking for our tents, as well as getting our hands on some blankets and a wheel chair. We are also getting some blue tarp from Samaritans Purse so we can put some tarps up to help with some kind of shelter. We still have more orphanages to visit and hope to have a clinic going Sunday afternoon in a local tent city. Please be praying for everything to line up by the time we leave, that we will have shelter, medical supplies, and food to all that we have on our list. Hopefully our internet will continue to work so I can update tomorrow. Until then, God Bless!